We Are All Different

Life and biology are complex. In nature, there is no black and white. Even zebras have coloration and stripe variations.

Each living creature carries characteristics making them unique. Just as a person has blue, hazel, or brown eyes, some are born with heterochromia, each eye is a different color. This trait occurs from the genetic mix. It is often seen in sled dogs, but humans can also have two different colored eyes.

Health issues, such as high blood pressure and heart disease are hidden differences, producing silent diseases. Embryo development can go awry resulting in spontaneous pregnancy loss. Other highly visible variations occur when one child is born with curly red locks and a sibling with stick-straight brown hair. Just as hair color and eye color vary, body shape, internal organs, cells and brains are all a unique combination of the chance union of an egg and a sperm.

Human females are born with about 300,000 eggs contained in the ovaries. Each ejaculate from the human male testes contains 250-500 million sperm. The matches between mature eggs and sperm are unpredictable. Simplistically, a mature egg supplies an X chromosome, the sperm, an X or Y chromosome. In combination, they usually form a female XX offspring, or a male XY offspring, but many developmental and chromosomal variations occur. Scientists devote lifetimes of study to sort out chromosomal variations, genetically transmissible traits, and discern the impact of environmental influences on developing fetuses.

Thanks for following.

Betty Kuffel, MD